PARADOX ABOUT QUALITY VALUES OF DIELECTRIC RESONATORS

The pi-phase difference that exists between the reflecting and the ref racting rays from a dielectric resonator results in a suppression of t he energy leakage from the resonator. If the resonator is not illumina ted by an external source of radiation but is, instead, supplied by an internal source, then the reflecting ray vanishes, and the rate of en ergy leakage increases. An exact wave-theory analysis shows that the q uality value of the resonator is approximately quartered, which is con siderable in both theory and applications of current interest.